<HTML><HTML>greetings,              I h= ave an old Becker Brothers made in 1903 (I named her "Becky") upright that I= just love the sound of. I also have a newer Yamaha U3. The Becker I wore ou= t playing and playing it all the way up to and through piano lessons (10 yea= rs). I just cannot seem to part with the old clunker. It has a deep rich bas= s tone that the Yamaha just doesnt have.             &nbs= p; SO...since I am going to keep "Becky" and she getting TLC some new felts/= cloth and regulations and tunings and its not a customer's piano, I experime= nted with her black keys.             &nbs= p; I took all the blacks, sanded them by taping sand paper to my workbench a= nd evenly sanding the tops, fronts and sides, (they were not ebony to begin = with, just wood) dusted them off, hung them up on a washline by using the ca= pstan with bent paperclips (or one can use wire), and I spray painted them w= ith Valspar brand flat black spray paint in a can that I got at Lowes.             &nbs= p;  Dry, I took them down and used an old cotton t-shirt and polished/ = burnished them. They look and feel great. They got like a satiny finish. The= y were chalky black at first when dry, but the burnishing with the cloth did= the trick. I am into paint and "Becky" isn't going anywhere. This is probab= ly why I attempted this. Just my two cents. rookie, Julia Gottchall Reading, PA </HTML>